Easington Colliery

Easington Colliery
Easington Colliery  Easington Colliery shown within County Durham
Population	4,959
OS grid reference	NZ432437
Civil parish	Easington Colliery
Unitary authority	County Durham
Ceremonial county	County Durham
Region	North East
Country	England
Sovereign state	United Kingdom
Police	Durham
Fire	County Durham and Darlington
Ambulance	North East
EU Parliament	North East England
List of places: UK • England • County Durham

Easington Colliery is an old coal mining town in County Durham, in England. It is situated to the north of Horden, and a short distance to the east of Easington Village. The town is known for a mining accident or disaster which occurred, on 29 May 1951 when an explosion in the mine resulted in the deaths of 83 men (including 2 rescue workers). It has a population of 4,959.

History

Easington Colliery began when the pit was sunk in 1899, near the coast. Thousands of workers came to the area from all parts of Britain and with the new community came new shops, pubs, clubs, and many rows of terraced "colliery houses" for the mine workers and their families.

In 1993 the mine was closed, with the loss of 1,400 jobs. This caused a decline in the local economy; Easington Colliery is currently the 4th most economically deprived place in England and the obesity capital of England (Aug 2006).^{[citation needed]}

The Easington Pit Disaster of 29 May 1951

Memorial Avenue, where, following the mining disaster in 1951, 83 trees were planted, one for each man who was killed.

It was just before dawn when sparks from a mechanical coal cutter, working in the Duck Bill district of the Five Quarter seam, ignited a pocket of gas. The result was a massive explosion which brought tons of rock and earth crashing down into the Duck Bill district of Five Quarter Seam. Entombed within the seam, some 900 ft below the surface, were 81 men. Villagers were alerted to the plight of their loved ones by the eerie wail of the pit's accident alarm system - the sound every mining community dreaded. "We were living in Oak Road at the time and seven men from our street were killed. One of our neighbours lost her husband and her father," said Mary Graham, (née Garside), now 73. "Our Tom was in the pit for about 10 days before they brought his body out. He was found with his pit pony. You have no idea how horrendous that time was."

Mary still recalls how she spent the night before the explosion chatting about horse racing with her adored older brother. "We talked until about 1am and then went to bed. Tommy was on first shift, which started at about 3am, so he'd have only have had a couple of hours sleep," she said."That was the last time I saw him. He was a smashing lad, the apple of mam and dad's eye and I still miss and think about him to this day. I often wonder what Tommy would have been like now, what he would have done with his life. As long as the pit was there, though, I reckon he would have been working in it."

As the accident alarm wailed out across the village, so miners and their families flocked to the pithead to help out with the rescue.

The first official rescue team to arrive was the pit's own rescue brigade. One miner, speaking in 2008 only weeks before he died, relived the experience. Tommy Houghton, a 39-year-old deputy at the pit, said: “It was two o-clock in the morning when we were knocked up and the man said ‘bring your pit clothes and you don’t need an oil lamp, your cap lamp will do.’

Tommy was also one of the first rescue workers to arrive at the seat of the explosion by the shearer machine on the High Main Seam, known by the miners as The Ducks. He believes that the operator of the machine must have seen what was happening. “We found his body behind one of the supports. He must have seen it coming and was hiding behind there. They always said The Ducks was sure to go and it did.”

After the disaster Tommy and the other members of the team were honoured at a special dinner where they all received a commemorative clock.

George Ottowell, a member of the Mine rescue Team, said: "It is as vivid in my mind today as when it happened. "As we turned into Ascot Street, we found a mass of people. The crowd opened up for us and they looked at us with hope in their eyes. We then went straight down the pit and found devastation, that's it in a nutshell. All the ventilation and lighting had been destroyed and there was a haze of coal dust." George, now 82, had never been to Easington before, although he later moved to the village in 1959 after securing a job as a safety officer at the pit. "Working pits were always very noisy, but there was a deathly quiet down there," he said.

All 81 entombed miners perished in the explosion, as did two rescue workers who were overcome by poisonous gas. The whole village was left in mourning. The King and Queen sent a message of "heartfelt sympathy" to the people of Easington and a statue was erected in memory of the lost miners. Villagers also planted 83 trees along Memorial Lane, a road leading to the Welfare Park, in tribute to each man, which has become a cherished symbol of remembrance. Indeed, such is the regard in which these trees are still held that, when one was removed to make way for a £750,000 revamp, it sparked an outcry. Mary's brother, John Garside, said: "I can remember as a schoolboy coming up here to help plant the 83 trees. To see one of them deliberately uprooted is heartbreaking."

Although many of Easington's older miners have now died, memories of the victims the explosion claimed are still passed on to younger generations of their families. "Their memories won't die," said Mary, "not so long as we kept telling their stories. When they shut the pit and flooded it, the spirits of these men stayed down there. They will never be forgotten, not while their family's families are here."

The men who lost their lives in the 1951 disaster were all from Easington Colliery unless otherwise stated. The youngest victim was 18-years-old, the oldest was 68. The average age of the pitmen killed was 43.

Easington Colliery Brass Band

Easington Colliery Band was founded in 1913. Players with band experience were encouraged by the management to come from the West of Durham to work at the colliery and play in the band. The band was supported financially and run by the joint board of unions, until the start of World War II. The band played for community activities, such as dances, concerts, and competitions. For the duration of the war the Easington Colliery Youth Band became the National Fire Service Band, which was eventually 'demobbed' in 1945 to become the Easington Public Band.

In 1956 the Public Band and the Colliery Band amalgamated to become the Easington Colliery Band as it is today. April 1993 witnessed the end of an era when Easington Colliery finally closed. The band is now totally self-supporting and relies on the work put in by the band members at concerts throughout the year to raise the funds to keep the band alive. The band is still based in Easington Colliery in the old colliery pay office opposite the Memorial Gardens, which is on the site of the old colliery. The building is the last remaining evidence of the pit.

The Legend of the Hare

It is said that the men of Castle Eden enjoyed racing greyhounds in the fields round about. One year a strange hare began to spoil their sport by leading the dogs a merry dance by crossing their path and turning them from their proper game. It never once failed to deflect the hounds, drawing them after it into Castle Eden Dene. The men wished they could catch the hare but it always evaded their most cunning snares. Eventually they consulted an old man skilled in healing horses and cows, hoping that he could help them. He told the men to take with them a bloodhound rather than a greyhound. The next day they did as the old man said and let loose the bloodhound. Soon the hare and the hound disappeared into the dene. Just as the men had given up hope they saw the hare running up the other side of the dene with the hound close behind. The hare had been forced out of its refuge. The men mounted their horses and crossed the dene just in time to see the hare running towards Easington Village. They drew close enough to see that the hare was limping and the bloodhound was gaining on it. On they went until they reached the village green. The hare crossed the green and headed towards a little stone cottage at the edge of the green. There was a narrow gap at the bottom of the door through which it bolted. As it did so the bloodhound caught one of its hind legs, but the hare shook it free. The men tried the door but found it was locked. They knocked but nobody answered so they burst open the door and rushed inside. But there was no hare to be seen. Instead they saw an old woman sitting before the fire bandaging her wounded heel. Nobody spoke, but the men knew that her witchcraft had been found out at last. They left her home and never again did the mischievous hare spoil their sport.

Other information

Easington Colliery provided the setting for the 2000 film Billy Elliot.

Singer-songwriter Jez Lowe was born and brought up in Easington. His song, "Last of the Widows", was written in 1991 to mark the fortieth anniversary of the pit disaster. Many of his other songs are inspired by life in County Durham and Easington in particular.

In 1971, members of rock band The Who shot the cover photograph for their album "Who's Next" at a concrete piling protruding from a spoil tip in the area. This cover was voted by the VH1 network as the second greatest album cover of all time.

In 2008, the town was featured in an episode of Channel 4's The Secret Millionaire, where advertising mogul Carl Hopkins donated over £30,000 to the community.

Sources

• http://ww2.durham.gov.uk/community/easington/colliery.htm
• http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/5299510.stm
• http://www.easingtoncollieryband.org/index.htm

Gallery

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  Avon Street

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  Near Memorial Avenue

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  Bridge under Durham Coastal Railway

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  Main Shopping Area in Easington Colliery